


A Timetraveler's Commitment

by Kintoun42



Category: Hololive, Virtual Streamer Animated Characters
Genre: AmeSame, Angst, They hurt each other, idk if other tags apply, im sure its fine, physically and emotionally
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 11:13:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29331384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kintoun42/pseuds/Kintoun42
Summary: Set many years after Hololive, Amelia and Gura meet up at various points in time after they've grown apart.
Relationships: Gawr Gura/Watson Amelia (hololive)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 72





	A Timetraveler's Commitment

# A Timetraveler's Commitment

Gura was rummaging through the drawers of the fridge again when Amelia showed up. No matter how many times Amelia tried to get her to stop, Gura always went back to this habit of removing everything from the fridge to look for every bit of food possible. They weren’t lacking for food, she thought, and Kiara always had free KFP for them whenever they wanted too. She was exhausted. Just what she expected to come, despite how much she wished this wasn’t the case.

“Hi Gura, I’m back. I brought you some snacks from Italy this time,” Amelia said. She hoped a friendly greeting would be enough to calm the dismantling of the fridge. Add in a bribe of snacks, and Amelia was sure that’d satiate Gura’s hunger for now. Her not-so-little shark’s hunger certainly became a problem in recent years. 

* * *

Around forty years ago was when Hololive came to a close. Amelia and Gura kept in touch with as many of the other girls as they could, but of course, a few of them drifted apart. Myth stayed tight-knit despite the passage of time, as most of them were immortal, to some extent or another. Calliope and Kiara hadn’t changed a bit. Kiara was still making record time in her friends-to-lovers speedrun, which is to say, she had made little progress, considering Calli always continued to play hard to get despite her shared feelings. Ina was still Ina. Same puns, same eldritch connections. Her cult had certainly grown though, whether she liked it or not. Amelia hadn’t even aged, because forty years hadn’t passed for her. She was never completely transparent about how much time, however, leaving some of the girls, Calliope especially, to wonder if more than forty years had passed for her.  


Gura changed the most out of all of them, and not for the better. Shark brain, exposure to the eldritch, too much Minecraft, or maybe even time travel, whatever it may have been, left her worse for wear. She was always hungry, wanting to hunt and feast. Amelia chalked her hunger and sudden growth spurts up to something similar to fish outgrowing their tank. She had more food up here than in Atlantis, after all. A wider variety too, giving her access to more nutrients. Amelia had considered going back to make periodic notes of her height to see if better food had really sped up her growth, if she simply had access to more food on the surface, or if something else entirely affected her growing. Gura was now well over five feet tall, nearly six foot. She put on some muscle and was lean, giving her a dangerous look when she hunched over a meal. Amelia really liked the small Gura, but this only made her like Gura more.

Her growth was never a problem. That is, until she started hunting again. Hunger drove her to act out. Pets started going missing, and Amelia found a few collars she didn’t recognize, bitten to pieces, in the trash. Of course, she never said anything, and as far as she knew, no one else found out. When they moved, Amelia made sure they got a much larger fridge, and even added a walk-in freezer in the basement. The freezer looked like a butcher’s shop whenever they stocked the room. Boxes of labeled foods sat on shelves hidden from one another by the rows of hanging meats between them. Suffice to say, their house was large enough for the two of them and then some, and out of the way enough that there shouldn’t be anymore incidents of missing pets. 

* * *

“Oh, the detective returns. Is that where you went off to this time, Ahmealia?” Gura places an odd emphasis on her name to let Amelia know she’s displeased. She ceased digging through the crisper drawer and turned to look at her, miffed.  


“Part of it, yeah. Just couldn’t say no to checking out the Colosseum, you know? Sorry about the wait.” Amelia grins. She sat the bag down by Gura’s leg to let her do with the contents what she willed.  


Gura’s gaze fell to the bag, before flicking back up to Amelia. She looked almost too happy, that blonde, with a smile plastered across her big, dumb, agreeable face. That boundless optimism was part of what drew her Ame all those years ago. How long had it been now? She’s not sure. Gura reached inside the bag and pulled out a gift-wrapped log and wheel, but she knew what was inside the log. She could smell it: meat. Gura tore open the brown wrap and bit into the sleeve beneath, deep enough to bite into the meat below. The paper is shredded in an instant by her hands and teeth. Her head reared back as she ripped a large chunk out of the package, hardly stopping to clear anything allegedly inedible off before eating it. The meat tasted old, but not stale. Dried and spiced to preserve the meat for as long as possible. In it, she could taste something that felt familiar too, but she couldn’t quite place what it could be. After all, she’s not sure she’s ever had this kind before, and how could she know if she had? Perhaps the familiarity was just because she occasionally scavenged dried meats that sank with ships in the past.  


“I got you a dried finocchiona with rosemary. A guy at the store said the fennel was from a river near where it was being sold, but I think they probably just used that whole ‘locally made’ spheal to try to get me to buy it. I guess it worked, but I was going to buy something anyway, so it didn’t really matter,” Amelia said. She nodded and watched Gura devour her snack. “Oh yeah, and the cheese wheel is a gouda. Because, you know...” Gura interrupted her with a groan before Amelia continued further.  


“Very funny, Watson. Another ame-zing joke from the world’s greatest detective. Now, if only you could figure out how to show up at home ever,” Gura said. She spit the chewed-up clump of paper into the empty bag, but ate the rest of the casing with the salami. She was mad, and it looked like Amelia could tell from how she stood with her hands clasping together as she spoke again. She always looked like she was trying to either hold or put something together when she spoke nervously. Amelia laughed.  


“I mean, how long could it have really been, right? Who knows, not me,” Amelia said. She was still a hard one to figure out. The sincerity in her voice is matched only by the sheer audacity she had to disappear for so long and not check back in at all, Gura thought.  


“Months. A couple of ‘em. I dunno. You tell me, you’re the time traveler, aren’t you? Figure it out. I ran out of food from the freezer while you were gone this time. How long do you think that took?” It’s as much of an actual question as it is posed to sass Amelia. Gura genuinely doesn’t know how long it’s been since Amelia was last here. Late nights that bleed into the morning, sleeping only when she feels the need to do so, clocks that no one bothered to fix, and her own memory prevented her from keeping accurate track of time on a day-by-day basis. A few days, weeks, were not a problem, but beyond that, they bleed together. She doesn’t think someone who can’t remember exactly how old they are should be left alone for months on end, which adds to her irritation.  


Gura stood up to look at Amelia. They were close together since Amelia gave her the bag with the meat and cheese in it. Gura rose up around a foot taller than Amelia now. She briefly recalled a time when she was several inches shorter than Amelia, but things have a way of always changing. How can she travel through time to the point where she doesn’t even seem to age, but still somehow forgets to come back to her for months on end? Unless, she thought, Amelia wasn’t forgetting. Gura stares down at Amelia. This woman, she once called her Sunshine. The nickname fit, Amelia always had bright, blonde hair and those blue eyes as vast as the sky itself. It’s all so hazy to her now, those days when they had first met. But Amelia looked the same now as she did back then. Was it genius behind her eyes? Or just an empty skull? She’d love to find out. The brain’s the most delicious part, after all.  


“You doin’ okay there, baby shark?” Amelia said. Her voice broke through Gura’s intense focus, a break in concentration for which she was glad, before her thoughts wandered anywhere else. “Look, I’m sorry it’s been a while. It’s time travel stuff, you know? It’s not, can’t really uh, have someone at-risk with me since it’d be harder to get in and out of places, times.”  


“I get it. You’ve got other things to do, whatever, Watson. But you can’t keep vanishing and then coming back whenever you feel like! Why can’t you just, I dunno, come back right after you leave? Isn’t the whole point of time travel supposed to be making your life easier?” Gura stepped closer to her. She was looking almost directly down now. She held a small sneer on her face, and kept her gaze firmly on Amelia while they talked. Suddenly, miss ace detective didn’t seem so nervous.  


“Aww, come on, it’s not that simple. There’s lots more complicated stuff that goes into it. I can’t risk seeing myself leaving when I come back for one, you know, more than I already do that exact thing I said I shouldn’t do. Crazy how that happens sometimes, huh?” Amelia laughed. It’s amazing how a sound that once brought her so much joy only irritated Gura. That carefree way she laughed, like nothing in the world could ever go wrong. Memories came back to her, now coated in a bittersweet haze. Not all of the sudden nostalgia was of memory though. Hearing Amelia like this gave Gura a warm feeling deep inside her stomach. That warmth grew into a burning heat, and spread throughout her entire chest as she listened to Amelia prattle on about time travel, or whatever other nonsense crossed her mind and derailed her current train of thought. It was painful, and threatened to erupt, but the worst part was not knowing why her heart burned so. Gura couldn’t remember what caused this, and that hurt more than the pain she now felt. Ame being gone felt bad, but her being right in front of Gura, so close she could reach out and touch her cheek, or stroke her hair, or grab her neck, made Gura’s chest even tighter. She clawed at her shirt, hoping to relieve some of the heat by jostling the fabric, but she had no luck at cooling down.  


“You doin’ okay there, shark bait? You didn’t laugh at my joke, it was really funny,” Amelia said. Her words startled Gura out of her daydream-like state. Her eyes darted from side to side, pupils dilated, in full predator-mode for a brief moment before she calmed down.  


“I’m fine. It’s so hot here, it kinda hurts… I may go to the freezer just to cool down.” Gura grabbed her cheese wheel and marched off towards the walk-in freezer. If Amelia wasn’t going to apologize at all, she didn’t want to stick around and hear her talk. Much to her annoyance, Amelia followed along behind her. She could almost taste how close Amelia was, and if her smell was any stronger than it already was, she’d swear there wasn’t enough of a difference between the two senses to say she couldn’t taste Amelia from a few feet away.  


“Oh, yeah? It’s not too hot out today, so I dunno what the issue is. Maybe you’re just working yourself up over my return and great gifts,” Amelia said. She clasped her hands behind her back as she strolled along behind Gura.  


Gura felt Amelia’s gaze on her, staring her down like she was something to be observed and studied. It was so like her to be overly-analytical on the smallest thing for no real reason, and it made Gura frustrated. Who does Amelia think she is, disappearing and reappearing at her own whim and leisure, then acting all focused after ignoring everything she’d said?  


“I’m getting worked up alright… Stupid, selfish, Watson…” Gura said. She spoke in a mumble and hoped Amelia would not hear her well.  


“Oh-ho, Gurrrra? I didn’t know you were that excited about coming back. Not bad to know though. What really did it for ya then? I bet it was the gift. My meat, heh,” Amelia said. She chortled at her own joke. The sound of her goblinous laughter was of no great joy to Gura.  


“You…! Are you always like this anymore? Just doing and saying whatever you want, ignoring everyone else? Have you always been like this? I can’t believe you right now,” Gura said. She clenched her fists with frustration as she wheeled around to face Amelia, stopping where she stood.  


“Hey, that’s… a little harsh. I haven’t always been like that. I mean, I’m not like that. Still. Come on,” Amelia said. She could hardly meet Gura’s gaze, for a moment. Her eyes wandered about as she seemingly looked for an excuse.  


“Well, let me know when you figure that one out, Detective, because it doesn’t sound to me like you’re too sure about it.” Gura left plenty of disdain in her words, and Ame in the hallway as she walked through the door to the freezer. She made sure to slam the door behind her to really let Amelia know that she was mad. Gura felt ignored for far too long. Her feelings were not something to be trifled with, but if Amelia couldn’t figure out how to come around more often at the very least, she didn’t place much hope in her feelings being valued. She’s always known humans could be especially selfish.  


The inside of the grey freezer was illuminated by a scant few strips of lights suspended against the ceiling down the center of the room. When the walk-in freezer was first built, the lack of light in the room creeped Gura out. Slabs of meat hung from hooks on the ceiling, casting shadows taller than she was against the walls of an otherwise darkened room. Too much lighting could risk putting off heat, they were told. She wished she could remember most everything as well as she remembered anything about her food. Now, the room was empty, which she thought was fine. Although a snack would be nice, she just needed a place to cool down.  


Gura sits with her back against the cold door, crouched on the floor. She crossed her arms across her knees and laid her face down over her arms in a sad pile of shark.  


“Ame… Didn’t I tell you I need you here? Didn’t you say you’d be there to help me when I asked? How do you expect me to ask for help when you aren’t even around…?” Gura felt on the edge of tears, but she held back in case Amelia stood outside the freezer. She inhaled sharply and raised her head.  


“No,” she thought, “I can tell her now. I wanted her here before, but she’s here now.” Gura jumped up and swung open the door.  


“Listen, I need you!” But to Gura’s dismay, no one stood on the other side of the door. The detective was nowhere to be found. Gura closed the door behind her and looked around. She hoped Amelia just wandered away, to maybe the living room, or her own room even. Gura ran down the hallway to each place she could think of, but the results of each were the same.  


“Ame…?” Gone, without a trace. Amelia had once again vanished into thin air. Gura sank to her knees. This was supposed to be when she made up with her. She was so close to turning this around, and for what? Amelia just disappeared again. The floor shook beneath the weight of Gura pounding on the ground with her balled fist. Who’s to say she wouldn’t do that while Gura wanted help? She couldn’t be sure, there was no way for her to know anymore. A total lack of any consistency left Gura with no real way she could justify a reliance on Amelia. What on Earth kept her hope in place for this long? Gura didn’t know. Maybe there was something she forgot. Although at this point, she wasn’t sure remembering mattered at all.  


Gura rose to her feet and rubbed her nose. She didn’t feel good, not even close, but coming to any sort of conclusion that felt like a step forward helped to ease the pain. Now, she just wanted to distract herself, so Gura headed to order more food.

* * *

Gura sat on the floor, surrounded by broken bones and empty KFP containers. She stared at the television with no real intent to watch whatever happened to be on at the time. The show didn’t matter. The TV was only on to provide some form of distraction from an otherwise monotonous day, and she was half-asleep anyway.  


A knock came from somewhere. She thought the sound originated from the TV until she heard a dull thud that matched nothing on-screen. Still, the sound wasn’t what interested her. No, rather, what broke her out of her stupor was the sharp smell that reached her moments later. Blood was always easier to smell in the water, where the current could tell her how far away something injured was from her, where the creature went, and maybe even what animal it was, but the iron in air was unmistakable to her. Gura decided to investigate. Either she’d find a second dinner, or something to keep her occupied for a bit. Maybe both, if she was so lucky.  


Shark brain took over as she wandered to the door. Slipping into predator instincts was too easy. Although there was no real need to approach the door like a killer, she couldn’t help herself. Everyday, fighting against her apex shark nature grew a little more difficult. The front door blocked the way to the delicious scent of prey. Gura pushed back against her desire to throw open the door and tear into whatever waited on the other side. Gura was glad she pushed against her base urges when she saw Amelia slumped against the doorframe after she opened the door. The detective looked up with a weak grin, but an expected one despite her atrocious state. Her chest and hand covered in blood, Amelia gave Gura a pained wave.  


“Hey there, gorgeous. Could I get you a drink, maybe go back to your place?” Amelia said.  


Gura gazed down at her with utter contempt. For once, she wasn’t hungry, just frustrated. She reached down and took hold of Amelia’s wrist, then dragged her inside.  


“Hey, at least buy me dinner first,” Amelia said. She wheezed a little as they passed over the base of the door frame.  


“Shut up, Watson. I should leave you outside so I don’t decide to eat you.” Gura pulled her inside and left her leaning against a wall just around the corner from the door, in case someone passing decided to snoop on them. Someone was clearly responsible for hurting Amelia, but she didn’t know who. Gura knew even Amelia couldn’t manage to hurt herself that much without outside help.  


“Don’t tempt me with a good time. Besides, I thought you said humans didn’t taste good,” Amelia said. She spoke through a weakened version of her usual cheeky grin.  


“I said shut up. You’re gonna bleed all over my floor, Watson. I don’t think your blood’ll come out of wood easily,” Gura said. She walked off to find whatever she could use to try to fix Amelia’s wounds. She’s no doctor, why should she keep a bunch of medical stuff on-hand? Gura grabbed a few rags and a roll of ducktape. Amelia laughed when she saw Gura return.  


“I’m glad I taught you well. Emergency training really did come in handy,” Amelia said. She grinned, her teeth stained a bright red. Gura was close enough to see just how red Amelia’s lips were too. She could feel how warm Amelia was as she pressed the rags into her side where she thought the injury was. Amelia’s hand closed around hers.  


“I can still move some. Let me put some of these on myself. Don’t want you to get frenzied or something, you know?” Amelia said. Her grimace betrayed the attempt at a joke, but Gura didn’t find it amusing. She pulled back from Amelia’s hands so she could wrap herself.  


“That’s not… I wouldn’t do that. But, fine, do it yourself. It’d be easier if I did it though,” Gura said. “What happened to you anyway, Watson?” Anything to take her mind off the girl sitting in front of her, and the nearly overpowering smell in the air.  


“I can’t let the pretty girl see my nasty wound, that’d be rude. Besides, you were the first one I thought of. Of course I came to you.” Amelia moved one of the rags under her partially-torn shirt and wrapped the tape around her chest to hold the rag in one place.  


“I didn’t even know if I was going to make it out of this alive, but I thought it’d be nice to spend my final moments with you.”  


Gura felt a sudden mix of anger and sadness well up within her as she watched Amelia tape herself up. It was a combination of emotions that made her feel sick. She felt mad at herself for being so useless, mad at Ame for being so selfish, mad at whoever hurt her like this… But there was nothing she could have done to prevent that, unless she took someone’s time machine. She doubted she could even work the damn thing properly.  


“You still might not, that's a lot of blood. Can’t you go to a hospital? They could at least… I dunno, put some back in you?” Gura assumed they could probably do so at the very least. She was not familiar with the inner workings of a hospital.  


“Nah, I trust you. It’s safer here than it would be elsewhere. Anybody could get in and out in a public place like that,” Amelia said.  


“Must be nice, having someone you trust like that,” Gura said. She couldn’t look Amelia in the eyes. She felt guilty right after the words left her mouth, but taking them back wasn’t an option.  


Amelia didn’t seem inclined to respond either. She made several noises like she wanted to say something, but couldn’t think of what to say, before she stopped making noise entirely for a few moments.  


Gura was sure that she’d never accomplish anything like that. Preventing Watson from making any sort of snarky response was almost unheard of. Amelia was always quick-witted, she thought. Gura couldn’t quite remember enough to be sure. Bits and pieces would float in from time to time, but there were many gaps, too many to be sure about anything.  


“Do you think you could leave soon?” Gura asked. She regretted asking the moment the words left her lips. Sure, she was tired of Amelia disappearing, and mad she would come around again out of nowhere, but she couldn’t just kick her out now, not after Amelia showed up in the bloodied state she was in. Gura looked down, expecting to see a shocked Amelia staring back at her, but she couldn’t see Amelia’s face behind her hair. She hadn’t even moved, let alone looked up. Amelia’s golden hair sat undisturbed from when she was first dragged to this spot. Gura didn’t know if she passed out, or just wasn’t paying attention, but she hoped that either way, Amelia didn’t hear the question. She lost a lot of blood though, and Gura’s concern grew. She was still alive, right? How much blood can most humans lose before dying, anyway? It was never a lot, usually. Gura dropped to her knees and leaned in close to Amelia’s chest to listen for a heartbeat or breathing. The smell of blood was overwhelming, and dangerously tantalizing. She was stopped when her head was grabbed with a surprisingly strong pair of hands.  


“Not dead yet. You’re gonna have to wait a little longer if you want to scavenge these bones. But, I thought sharks were hunters?” Amelia said. She whispered into Gura’s ear, close enough Gura could feel her hot breath with every syllable she spoke. Amelia let go of Gura’s head when Gura pulled back after a fleeting moment where she was frozen by intimacy. Now, Gura was the one who didn’t know what to say. Amelia must have been conscious the whole time. Amelia continued talking.  


“But yeah, I get what you mean, or I guess, what you’re trying to say. I guess I can go ahead and head out, maybe go for a jog or something. You know, some light exercise, something to get the blood pumping. I’m joking about that, but this should be fine for now. Thanks for helping fix me up. I’ll get out of your hair now.” Amelia braced herself against the wall and stood up. Getting to her feet looked to take considerable effort, but she seemed fine once she got up.  


Gura was once again frozen. She finally thought she had become more independent over the years, yet here she was, absolutely enthralled by every word Watson threw out at her. And her smile... Ame was always smiling when she quipped, but now, her smile looked devoid of the light her sunshine once held. The worst part was a fleeting memory of her sunshine while staring at the weathered expression Amelia now held. Where had her radiance, which could light up Gura’s entire world, gone? What now hid the golden sun behind clouds of white and grey? Had she always looked so tired? So sad? Was this her fault?  


“I’ll see you later, Gura,” Amelia said. She walked to the door, and without looking back to Gura, Amelia left.  


Whether Amelia leaving was Gura’s fault or not, she felt responsible for ruining a chance to reconnect. She snapped back to reality and ran, slipping on the small puddle of blood Watson left behind. Her loss of footing was only temporary thanks to her sharp-as-ever reflexes, with which she managed to dig into the corner of the wall with what were basically claws as she turned to get to the door. She threw open the door and found nothing. Even her scent had entirely vanished. Amelia was nowhere to be found, and Gura had no way to know where or when she had gone, or when she might come back. She closed the door, and banged her hands against it. A well of emotions once dormant now poured out as she blamed herself for running off Watson.  


That was the last time Gura saw Amelia.

* * *

That was the last time Amelia saw her friend Gura  


A lot can change in the span of a few years, and unfortunately for everyone else in her life, Amelia was terrible at keeping track of time, and she only got worse when time no longer held any meaning to her.  


“I’m a busy woman,” she’d always tell people who asked where she went. Although, as the years went on, fewer people cared to ask. But that didn’t matter to her, less nosiness meant Amelia didn’t have to keep her secret from others. With time travel, she found that the general rule was that the less people knew, the better the outcome would be. No one overthought things, or tried to fix past or future events on their own without even a basic grasp of what the consequences of their actions would be on the timeline. How many of those she had worked on fixing, she had no clue at this point. Yet despite all that, and despite how much she complained about people who didn’t know what they were doing when they messed with time, the one who messed with time the most was still Amelia, and she knew this.  


“...But I don’t need to tell myself that. It’s fine, Ame, it’s fiiine. She won’t be mad. Nah, she’ll be pissed. But! ...I don’t know what the upside to this is. Just… Gotta explain that I needed to lay low. She’ll understand. This time, for sure.” Amelia opened the door to Gura’s house. Or, she tried. The handle spun, but never made any indication that the door was going to open. She jostled the door, then rammed into it with her shoulder. On her second attempt, the door cracked open, taking a small chunk of the inner frame with it.  


“...Well, she may be mad about that too now. Gura? Are you home? I brought KFP, if you want some! I know you do, but, this way I get to pretend like I bought it for both of us on a whim and not just to give to you.” Her voice trailed off as she spoke into the darkened house. Every light she could see was off, so she couldn’t see much with the curtains drawn, save where the light from the open door could reach.  


“It’s almost the middle of the day, so maybe Gura’s still asleep,” she thought. Amelia stepped inside and walked to the kitchen to set the comically-large KFP bag and the regular-sized one on the counter. Not much light from the door reached around all the way to the kitchen, so she carefully stepped into the dark kitchen as her vision adjusted. From memory, she knew where the counter was, but the floor felt wrong. Everything was uneven and soft, and the air felt thick. She sat the larger of the two bags down so she could have a free hand, and tried to turn on the lights in the kitchen, but nothing happened. The lights above didn’t even flicker. Amelia checked the microwave, and discovered it was off. She moved to check the oven, but could see nothing on the clock there either. The fastest way to check the fridge was just to open it, so she pulled the door open, but no light came out. Instead, what hit Amelia was the putrid scent of rotten food rushing toward her. She gagged, and nearly vomited on the spot. She slammed the door to the fridge shut, but that caused airborne mold to whip around her with greater intensity. Amelia could feel the mold from the fridge inside her throat from even just that brief opening. She rushed over to the sink and doubled over, spitting and coughing to try to clear herself of the mold in her mouth. She turned the knob, and much to her relief, water poured out. Amelia stuck her face under the faucet and swished water around in her mouth and spit it out until she thought that she had cleared away every disgusting bit of mold. Not bothering to look for any sort of washcloth or paper towel, she wiped her face on her sleeves without hesitation. The smell was still there, and she didn’t know if it was because she got some of the mold up her nose, or if it was from the fridge still, but as she looked around with her vision adjusted to the dark, she realized that the floor was covered in a thick layer of mold, which now swirled like a small storm around her legs. There was no way for her to know what anything on the floor was before, but whatever was left there was garbage now. She needed to make sure the rest of the house wasn’t in such a terrible condition as well, so she rushed out of the kitchen and into the living room. Amelia grabbed the side of one of the curtains and, had she not just inhaled more mold than she had ever cared to before, would have been disgusted with how much dust caked the curtains, and now her fingers too. She tried to ease the curtains apart. Too much movement all at once would just make another whirlwind of waste, and she didn’t want that. Light filled the room as the curtains were parted, revealing the dust-covered interior to the home. Gura couldn’t have used the tables in weeks. The TV screen probably wouldn’t even show anything, if she could get it to turn on. The couch looked passable as lived-on still, but Amelia couldn’t really tell, and she wasn’t about to sit down and cover herself in dust to check.  


The hallway that led deeper into the house remained unlit. A chill ran down her spine. Somehow, the empty hallway intimidated her. It was certainly an intriguing mystery, but one she was scared to approach. This was not the type of scenario that bodes well for the person who checks out the creepy old hallway, she thought. She was about to walk down it anyway, when she heard the crinkling of plastic bags from the kitchen. Amelia was about to call out to Gura once more, but the loud ripping sound that could only have been her thermal bag made her words catch in her throat. Whoever or whatever was in the kitchen was making no attempt at hiding their hunger, which only added to Amelia’s concern. She took a step toward the kitchen, only to be stopped again by the distinct sound of bones being crushed to bits. Her eyes squeezed shut, and she felt like her whole body tensed for a moment. She really hated that sound. Unfortunately for Watson, she could hear more bones being crunched as she stood in the living room. She took a step forward to go to the kitchen, but the rustling and crunching stopped as soon as she moved. She held her breath. She heard shuffling. Something was leaving the kitchen, and as the shuffling through the muck got quieter, she thought that whatever it was, it was heading towards the hallway from the other side of the kitchen. Even if it was from behind, seeing what she was dealing with would make her life so much easier. Amelia took a few steps backwards so she could avoid being in a direct line of sight should it turn to face the living room. Nothing had been moved, so she avoided stubbing her toe on any of the furniture, but the KFP bag she still held rustled as it brushed against the arm of a chair. Amelia remained as still as she possible could to prevent further noise. She hoped the bag was quiet enough that it wasn’t heard, however, the possibility left her mind as easily as it had entered when she heard the footsteps grow louder as they returned to the kitchen and came towards the hallway. She covered her mouth with one hand, hoping that masking her breathing would help, but she didn’t know what to do at the moment other than to hope she wasn’t discovered.  


Still covered in shadow, she could see a tall figure emerge from the kitchen, and look her way. Line of sight from where she stood, illuminated by the window, to the darkened kitchen entrance was almost direct.  


“Gura…?” Amelia posed a hopeful question, but concern filled her voice. She was just glad that her growing fear didn’t appear to leak out. The silence grew. The louder it got, the more Amelia feared for what would follow. She swore her pounding heart was conspiring against her, and her eyes were playing tricks on her. She thought she could make out the usual coat Gura wore, but even then, she’d rather not believe this creature was Gura. It took another step forward and entered the spotlight from the opened door. Illuminated by the daylight sun, Amelia could make out a figure that once belonged to her close friend, but no more. She didn’t know what caused Gura to change so much yet again, but now she appeared even more monstrous than before. Her height hadn’t changed much more, but Amelia wasn’t sure if Gura had grown taller once again. As thin as she was, it was hard to tell. She looked malnourished, her skin hung off her bones. Her skin was reddened in several spots around her limbs, and she could see large bites that looked to be self-inflicted on her forearms and biceps. Each limb ended in claw-like fingers, which reflected a bit of light. Her legs matched her arms, they looked stretched out, like someone forcibly tried to make her taller and almost ruined her body in the process. That must be grease from the chicken on her hands, and her mouth, which was agape like she couldn’t close her jaw entirely due to the sheer size and amount of teeth she now possessed. So great, their number, her cheeks appeared to be ripped open in several spots where teeth poked through the skin in various directions. Too many teeth for Amelia to be comfortable, far too many, and with some that she could see being cracked or broken, Gura’s teeth didn’t look comfortable in her own mouth, either.  


Amelia couldn’t decide if Gura lacking a recognizable smile made her horrifying visage better or worse. She was always smiling before, Gura almost never stopped smiling. But a smiling Gura might suggest she had some idea of what she was doing, and that was absolutely not the impression that she got now. No, rather, she had the look of a wild animal, a predator seeing prey, deciding whether it’s hungry or not to hunt.  


She tried to think of any shark facts she could remember. Do sharks kill for fun, like some animals do? Do they kill and eat whatever they can, as much as possible, whether it helps keep them alive or not? All she could focus on was Gura in front of her, nothing from her past. Bites all over her arms. Probably the only places she could consistently reach with ease. Grease, likely from the chicken, which explained the sound. Borderline-silent footsteps, meaning she’s as deadly on land as in water if she caught her prey off-guard. Her tattered shirt, now serving as a reminder to Amelia of what she once was, now a cruel reflection of what she’d become. No, now wasn’t the time to be trying to analyze why she’d bitten herself or how she hunted, there’s a much more pressing matter at hand, and that is the beast of a girl herself, who was still approaching.  


“A…” She acted like even simple words were too complex for her to say. Amelia wasn’t sure if she could talk anymore at all, or if nondescript noises were all she could manage.  


“Hey Gura, I see you saw the food I brought. I’m sure there’s more in the kitchen if you’d just go back in there, nice and easy,” Amelia said. Every bit of her strength was being mustered to not let her voice tremble as she spoke. She raised her hand to point back towards where Gura just came from.  


For a moment, Amelia had hope. Gura stopped and looked confused. She looked to Amelia, and back to the kitchen, then back to Amelia, who nodded encouragingly. Gura brought one of her hands up to her mouth and attempted to clean her fingers off, then looked down, and began to crouch. Amelia realized she still had the other bag with her and knew she was in immense danger.  


She tore the bag off of her wrist and threw the chicken to her side, leaping away the other direction. At the same time, Gura lunged. She narrowly missed Amelia, having prioritized the bag of food rather than attempting to make a meal out of her instead at that moment. Amelia hit the couch and scrambled back onto her feet, up and over to put the couch between herself and Gura. She heard the ripping of plastic and paper, and furious crunching. She wasn’t sure how much of the crunching was the food, and how much was Gura’s teeth breaking against one another. Amelia thought sharks didn’t make a lot of sense, having teeth that constantly fall out, but at least they grew new ones just as easily. Although, she felt that avoiding teeth all-together was more in-line with what she wanted to do right now, rather than focusing on them.  


Amelia peaked over the couch. The bag was shredded and pieces were tossed to the side with little regard for how messy that spot of the room was becoming. The ferocity with which she tore into the food was something Amelia had not seen often. She needed to move, unless she wanted to end up like the pieces of shredded chicken. And considering she purchased chicken strips and not shredded chickens, that was not an end Amelia cared to experience. She wiped her brow and took a deep breath to steady herself, and started to crawl forward towards the hallway. Getting to the front door would be hard with Gura so close to it, but if she could get into the kitchen and go around to the door from the other side, she thought she might be able to get out.  


Amelia took another step forward and felt a terrible chill go down her spine. She glanced to her side, but didn’t see anything unusual, however, now that she wasn’t so absorbed in her own thoughts, she noticed the sounds of bag-tearing had ceased. No crunching, nothing. Panic crept into her chest. She knew she either needed to run now, or she was dead, but if she sprinted too early she might as well be throwing her life away. The kitchen was too risky anymore. If she gets caught there, she’s dead. If she gets out the front door, then what? She doesn’t want to get torn to bits in the yard either. The only way out looked to be running deeper into the house and hoping she could evade Gura for long enough to get out a window or something, she wasn’t sure. There’d be time to figure that out on the run. Amelia heard the floor creak from a footstep. Gura was starting to move. Amelia knew she needed to move as soon as possible. Ready?  


She leapt up and grabbed her hat, throwing it across the room. She saw Gura standing still, staring at the ceiling, chest heaving. She still looked hungry. The hat hit a chair, and Gura snapped to attention. She lunged at the chair and made short work of the upholstery, tearing it to shreds in no time at all. Rather than ripping up the hat along with the chair, she took it in her hands and bit into it. Amelia might have laughed if she thought there was a chance this was a joke. She knew the only reason Gura tried to eat it was because the hat probably smelled like her. Amelia liked that hat, but decided she could get another one later, if she survived this. Amelia sprinted down the hallway as fast as she could while Gura was distracted.  


“A…! Aaa!!” Gura let out another raspy cry as Amelia ran. Her reaction made it seem like she had caught on to Amelia’s ruse. She did not, however, want to look back to see how close Gura was to catching up to her after she noticed, so Amelia had to hope the chair and hat kept her for long enough to get away.  


Amelia ran deeper into the house, despite knowing the layout well she hesitated to consider this house her own anymore. She was well aware she had been gone far too long for that to be true anymore. Still, she knew where she was going, and sprinted towards the walk-in freezer. Upon wrenching the door open and jumping inside, she was surprised to see that there was meat inside for once. Who had come here to restock everything? The more she learned, the less things made sense, not that she had time to worry about where this hanging meat had come from when she’d end up dead if she stopped to think about it for too long. Amelia ran and hid herself behind one of the larger hanging bodies towards the back, putting herself in the space between the meat and the wall. She wanted to have a way out on either side, just in case.  


In her hurry, Amelia failed to close the door fully. She could hear Gura skittering about in the hallway. Amelia’s sigh of relief caught in her throat when she heard a door down the hallway get smashed apart. No more getting comfortable until she knew she was out of danger. Amelia’s hands closed around the pocket watch hanging above her stomach. Her timepiece might be the only chance she has at getting out, but she hated relying so heavily on it when it came to running away, especially if running meant leaving Gura here. She’d already failed her enough. Amelia furrowed her brow and started to wind her watch up, what’s failing her one more time then? Getting her timepiece to the point she could actually leave would take a moment, and her hands were cold. Her breath fogged up the glass as she breathed on her fingers to try to warm them up. The tiny gear in her watch were not the only clicking noises she could hear anymore. The door handle was being moved. Gura’s claws must be tapping the door or wall as she opened the freezer.  


Amelia hunched over and pressed the watch into her stomach. She needed to try to hide the sound so her hope of escaping didn’t give her away. Gura’s footsteps inside the freezer told Amelia that she was getting closer. She could hear a piece of meat being ripped and bitten into before being tossed on the floor. The chunk lands on the floor with a thud, she’s surprised Gura even tried to eat anything in here. She wasn’t sure Gura had come in here any time recently. Amelia tried to slide herself across the floor to get to the door. If Gura got distracted trying to eat in here, she might be able to get out and shut her inside before she could do anything about it. The only question was, would Gura be able to open the door from the inside? Amelia hoped the answer would be “no,” but she thought the risk would be worth taking either way. She slid forward again and made it to the opposing side of another slab of meat. She had two carcasses between them now, and Gura was busy exploring what Amelia assumed would be her favourite room. She crawled forward to the wall and attempted to get past another carcass, but bumped into it, and caused the hanging meat to swing gently back and forth. The lack of use caused the pulley the meat was suspended from to creak. The sound was soft, but Amelia grabbed a hold to settle it down. The ticking of her timepiece was now audible. The little clock echoed throughout the room and Amelia swore under her breath.  


The carcass behind Amelia was pushed aside and she turned to see Gura staring down at her. For a moment, they stood still, staring at each other. Amelia felt the intensity of Gura’s gaze bearing down on her as their eyes met, the look of a predatory going in for a kill.  


Amelia dived towards the next row of carcasses and tried to get behind them as fast as possible, but Gura was far faster than her. Gura threw herself down and landed on top of Amelia, dragging her away from her attempted hiding spot. Her claws dug into Amelia’s skin and drew blood as she yanked her back. Amelia screamed and kicked out at Gura, who swatted Amelia’s flailing limbs aside with more strength than Amelia felt necessary, flipping her over. She screamed again until the sound that came out more of a forced gurgle as one of Gura’s hands clenched around her throat. Her grip was very rapidly cutting off any air Amelia hoped to get as Gura’s other hand tore into her side. She couldn’t even gasp for air. Amelia saw spots and flares in her vision, she knew she was close to blacking out if she couldn’t get away from Gura’s grasp.  


Tears rolled down her cheeks and clouded her vision further, everything hurt, from her legs twisted underneath Gura, to the warm, numb ache in her side as blood spilled from her wound. Her pounding heart matched the ticking of her clock, now tangled up by her shoulder due to Gura throwing her around. She could see the slight blue glow of the watch, ready to whisk her away all too late. She looked up at Gura, for maybe the last time. Her white hair danced down in front of her eyes, longer and even more unkempt than before. She wished her smile wasn’t so cruel, otherwise, she was content to die by Gura, even if it was Gura who was killing her. She reached a hand up as best as she could manage. Stupid shark, making a mess of her cute face. Even a smile was painful to make because of Gura’s grip. When she reached up, Gura released the grip on her throat to slam Amelia’s hand down onto the floor, and Amelia coughed as she was able to breathe again.  


“Gura, I-” Amelia said. She was unable to finish what she wanted to say because Gura bore down on her once again, this time biting into her shoulder.  


Amelia yelled in pain as Gura’s jagged teeth punctured her skin. She was no longer sure if the cold was due to the room or from blood loss. Gura continued biting, like she was trying to find a good place to tear with no regard for the agony she was putting Amelia through. However, when she bit down hard once again, Amelia heard glass and metal cracking. She fought through the pain to look up, and saw that stuck in Gura’s teeth was her pocket watch, the glow intensifying, like the watch was getting ready to activate. She could hear voices from her watch, fading in and out like the echoes from the past that they were. Like channels on a radio, the voices faded into one another until one was the clearest amoungst them. Amelia could hear her own voice, she was singing and playing her ukulele. She didn’t know how many years ago that was anymore, but she remembered the song, and those long-buried feelings, well.  


Gura sat down and tried to untangle the broken chain and watch from her teeth, and Amelia took the chance to slowly crawl away from her. She propped herself up against the wall and tried to hold herself together as best she could, both physically and emotionally. She never knew how upset a single song could make her. Amelia could see Gura grow increasingly frustrated with the timepiece, no longer even noticing anything else. Weaker teeth broke loose as she found a grip and yanked on the chain, but the body of the watch itself was still lodged in-place. In a fit of anger, Gura chomped down on the watch, shrieked, and Amelia was blinded by the flash of light that exploded out of Gura’s mouth.  


When the light cleared, Gura had fallen to her knees, blood trickling from her mouth. Amelia barely had the strength to move anymore, but she still dragged herself forward to Gura. Despite the obvious danger, she couldn’t just leave Gura undisturbed, not this time. She stopped, however, when she heard crying. She hadn’t expected tears. Amelia hesitated to crawl further forward.  


“A… Ame…” Gura said. She broke down further, sobbing uncontrollably. She hunched over on the floor and pounded her fist on the ground in frustration, but because of what, exactly, Amelia didn’t know.  


“Gura, I’m here. Can you hear me?” Amelia pulled herself up into a sitting position after dragging herself near Gura. She knew she had to take this chance to talk with Gura despite the risk involved. She reached a shaky hand out to her friend who seemed to be regaining some semblance of their former self.  


“Ame… Ame… I don’t know what I’m doing, I’m sorry…!” Gura said. She too pulled herself closer, bringing herself right up in front of Amelia. Gura still had blood on her face, although Amelia wasn’t fully sure if all of the blood was her own, or a mix of both of theirs. However, her eyes were what Amelia found the most reassuring. There was a kindness that had returned to Gura’s eyes, one that was far from present before. Seeing that brought a smile back to Amelia, just a small one. Anything more still hurt her.  


“I know, Gura, it’s fine. You’re fine now, everything’s gonna be okay,” Amelia said. She tried to do her best to reassure her friend. She doubted how convincing her words were, but she knew she had to make an attempt.  


“Ame, I couldn’t stop myself…” Gura moved closer and clutched Amelia’s shoulders. Her breathing was still shaky as she recovered from crying, Amelia could hear just how laboured Gura’s breathing was as she rested her forehead on Amelia’s unbitten shoulder. The idea of Gura being so close put her on-edge after having just been chased through the house by her, but she allowed her to rest there for now.  


“Hey dummy, I heard you already. But you’re gonna be fine now. I can fix this… No, we can fix this. We’ll find a way to handle this eventually. But Gura, I need you to trust me on this, okay?” Amelia shushed her friend, and gently put a hand up on her cheek. Amelia brushed away a little blood with her thumb, trying to help clean up Gura as best she can in this moment of intimacy. Amelia glanced over at her pocket watch on the floor. Despite having been pierced before, it was now in perfect condition as if never damaged at all. She reached over and grabbed it so she could start the warm-up process over again.  


“Yeah… Of course, I trust you. I don’t want to hurt you again, Ame,” Gura said. She leaned further over Amelia, covering her in a hug. She sounded so tired, and Amelia was too.  


“Alright, then. We’ll fix this then. This time, we’ll get it right, for sure. We’ll take it slowly this time. Ready?” Amelia felt Gura nod, and after waiting for the start-up on her timepiece to finish, Amelia started her time traveling once again. She knew where to take them to get some rest and recover from this stressful day. As the glow and the ticking from her watch grew to encompass both of them, Amelia felt a renewed vigour. She had to get things right this time around. No more do-overs this time. She’d already messed up enough, but Amelia thought that if she can stay focused on someone who matters to her, and actually work towards fixing Gura, she could succeed this time.

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't revised this, but maybe I will at some point if enough errors are pointed out. Also, I don't use ao3 much so bear with me on formatting.


End file.
